Safety installation for the passengers of vehicles, especially passenger motor vehicles

ABSTRACT

A safety installation for the passengers of motor vehicles, especially of passenger motor vehicles in which the backrests of the front seats are equipped with a headrest and accommodate within the area of each backrest underneath the headrest two inflatable gas cushions which are so arranged that upon inflation one gas cushion unfolds in front and one gas cushion unfolds behind the headrest.

United States Patent [1 1 Wilfert' [111 3,779,577 [4 1 Deals, 1973 1SAFETY INSTALLATION FOR THE PASSENGERS OF VEHICLES, ESPECIALLY PASSENGERMOTOR VEHICLES [75] Inventor: Karl Wilfert, Gerlingen-Waldstadt,

Germany [73] Assignee: Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft,

Stuttgart-Unterturkheim, Germany [22] Filed: NOV. 23, I971 [21] AppliNo.1 201,407

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 28, 1970' Germany P 20 58608.7

[52] 0.5. CL... 280/150 AB [51] Int. Cl. B60r 21/10 [58] Field of Search280/150 AB, 150 B [56] 7 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS3,642,303 2/1972 lrish et a1. 280/150 AB 3,603,535 9/1971 DePolo 280/150AB 3,510,150 5/1970 Wilfert 280/150 AB 3,663,035 1/1970 Norton 280/150AB 2,418,798 4/1947 Whitmer..... 280/150 AB X 3,476,402 Wilfert 280/150AB Primary Examinerl(enneth H, Betts Attorney-Craig, Antonelli & Hill 577 ABSTRACT A safety installation for the passengers of motor vehicles,especially of passenger motor vehicles in which the'backrests of thefront seats are equipped with a headrest and accommodate within the areaof each backrest underneath the headrest two inflatable gas cushionswhich are so arranged that uponvinflation one gas cushion unfolds infront and one gas cushion unfolds behind the headrest.

6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures SAFETY INSTALLATION FOR THE PASSENGERS FVEHICLES, ESPECIALLY PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLES The present inventionrelates to a safety installation for the passengers of vehicles,especially of passenger motor vehicles, in which the backrests of thefront seats are each equipped with a headrest.

The present invention is concerned with the task to provide a safetyinstallation which during collisions reduces to a minimum the danger ofa head or cervical spine injury of those seated in the vehicle in frontas well as those seated in the rear during impact against the backrestsof the front seats or against the headrests and which simultaneouslyprevents that a rear seat passenger becomes wedged-in between the frontseats.

In particular, it has been discovered, for example, that duringcollisions persons present in the vehicle have been thrown back innumerous cases in such a manner that they laterally miss the existingheadrests and that thus serious spinal injuries may occurnotwithstanding the headrests.

As a solution to the underlying problems, a safety installation istherefore proposed for the passengers of vehicles, especially ofpassenger motor vehicles, in which the backrests of the front seats areequipped with a headrest, whereby according to the present invention twoinflatable gas cushions of conventional construction and made fromflexible material are each so arranged in the upper area of thebackrests underneath the headrest that during the inflation one cushionunfolds in front of and one gas cushion unfolds behind a given headrest.

The inflating of the gas cushion can thereby be triggered in aconventional manner in dependence on a deceleration switch arranged inthe vehicle which responds upon exceeding a predetermined decelerationof the vehicle.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the presentinvention the gas cushions are so dimensioned that in the inflatedcondition, the mutually facing surfaces of the gas cushions provided atthe backrests of two seats arranged one adjacent the other, at leastapproximately contact one another. It is achieved thereby that in theupper area the gap between the backrests of the front seats ispractically closed so that a far-reaching protection is thereby createdalso for the persons present in the rear of the vehicle.

In the folded-together condition, the gas cushions are arrangedpreferably in approximately horizontally extending recesses of thebackrests.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide asafety installation for the passengers of vehicles, especially ofpassenger motor vehicles, which avoids by simple means theaforementioned shortcomings and drawbacks encountered in the prior art.

Another object of the present invention resides in a safety installationfor the passengers of motor vehicles which greatly reduces the injurydanger for head injuries and spine injuries during a collision accident.

A further object of the present invention resides in a safetyinstallation which in particular effectively prevents rear passengersfrom becoming wedged-in between the front seats when thrown forwardly incase of an accident.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following description whentaken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, forpurposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention, and wherein FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic sideelevational view of the center portion of a passenger motor vehicleequipped in accordance with the present invention, and

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along line IlII of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the two views to designate. like parts, one headrest 2 eachis secured at the backrests 1 of the front seats illustrated in thedrawing. Two folded-together gas cushions 5 and 6 are arranged in theupper area of each backrest l underneath the headrest 2 within recessesgenerally designated by reference numerals 3 and 4. During actuation ofa conventional filling device (not illustrated) which may be common toboth gas cushions 5 and 6, one gas cushion 5 unfolds and inflates infront of the headrest 2 and the other gas cushion 6 unfolds and inflatesto the rear of the headrest 2. The inflated position of the gas cushions5 and 6. is indicated in both figures of the drawings in dash-and-dotlines.

As can be seen in particular from FIG. 2, the gas cushions 5 and/or thegas cushion 6 are of such dimensions that in the inflated condition themutually facing surfaces thereof at least approximately contact oneanother to thereby close the gap that would otherwise exist between thefront seats, for example, with the use of bucket seats. Furthermore, itis also advantageous if the volume of the gas cushion 6 arranged behindthe headrest 2 is larger than the volume of the corresponding gascushion 5 arranged in front thereof. Any conventional filling device anddeceleration switch may be used for filling the gas cushions 5 and 6when the deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value.However, it is also particularly advantageous if the inflating gaspressure is supplied to both gas cushions 5 and 6 of a respectivebackrest 1 from a common gas source 7.

While I have shown and described only one embodiment in accordance withthe present invention, it is understood that the same is not limitedthereto but is susceptible of numerous changes and modifications asknown to those skilled in the art and I therefore do not wish to belimited to the details shown and described herein, but intend to coverall such changes and modifications as are encompassed by the scope ofthe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An installation for increasing the safety of passengers in motorvehicles comprising passenger seat means, each of said seat means havinga backrest means and a seat portion; a fixed headrest means secured to atop portion of each of said backrest means; and. first and second gascushion means connected to each of said backrests at said top portion,said first gas cushion means extending on inflation to a position infront of said headrest means and said second gas cushion means extendingon inflation to a position behind said headrest means wherein said firstand second gas cushion means are in a cooperative position with respectto said headrest means such that a passenger in one of said seat meanshaving his head thrown backward during a collision is protected by atleast one of said first gas cushion means and said headrest means andsuch that a passenger behind one of said seat means is protected by saidsecond gas cushion means from impact with said seat means upon beingthrown forward during a collision.

2. An installation according to claim 1, wherein each of said first andsecond gas cushion means is dimen sioned on inflation to a size suchthat mutually facing surfaces of respective first and second gas cushionmeans connected to laterally adjacent backrest means at leastapproximately contact one another, such that gaps between said backrestmeans are minimized.

3. An installation according to claim 1, wherein each of said first andsecond gas cushion means is dimensioned on inflation to a size largerthan the size of said headrest means.

4. An installation according to claim 1, wherein said first and secondgas cushion means in an uninflated condition are arranged inapproximately horizontally extending recesses of the backrest means. i

5. An installation according to claim 1, wherein said second gas cushionmeans arranged behind said headrest means has a greater volume than thevolume of said first gas cushion means arranged in front of saidheadrest means.

6. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the first and secondgas cushion means of a respective backrest means are inflated from acommon gas source. i

1. An installation for increasing the safety of passengers in motorvehicles comprising passenger seat means, each of said seat means havinga backrest means and a seat portion; a fixed headrest means secured to atop portion of each of said backrest means; and first and second gascushion means connected to each of said backrests at said top portion,said first gas cushion means extending on inflation to a position infront of said headrest means and said second gas cushion means extendingon inflation to a position behind said headrest means wherein said firstand second gas cushion means are in a cooperative position with respectto said headrest means such that a passenger in one of said seat meanshaving his head thrown backward during a collision is protected by atleast one of said first gas cushion means and said headrest means andsuch that a passenger behind one of said seat means is protected by saidsecond gas cushion means from impact with said seat means upon beingthrown forward during a collision.
 2. An installation according to claim1, wherein each of said first and second gas cushion meAns isdimensioned on inflation to a size such that mutually facing surfaces ofrespective first and second gas cushion means connected to laterallyadjacent backrest means at least approximately contact one another, suchthat gaps between said backrest means are minimized.
 3. An installationaccording to claim 1, wherein each of said first and second gas cushionmeans is dimensioned on inflation to a size larger than the size of saidheadrest means.
 4. An installation according to claim 1, wherein saidfirst and second gas cushion means in an uninflated condition arearranged in approximately horizontally extending recesses of thebackrest means.
 5. An installation according to claim 1, wherein saidsecond gas cushion means arranged behind said headrest means has agreater volume than the volume of said first gas cushion means arrangedin front of said headrest means.
 6. An installation according to claim1, wherein the first and second gas cushion means of a respectivebackrest means are inflated from a common gas source.